Campos Meta 1 becomes HRT F1 Team, (Hispania Racing F1 Team)

Campos Meta 1 has been renamed HRT F1 Team, (Hispania Racing F1 Team) following Jose Ramon Carabante’s acquisition of Campos Meta 1 earlier in February. The new team name and identity is strongly linked to its Spanish roots and the team base will be in Murcia, near Alicante, Spain. The highly motivated squad around Dr. Colin Kolles continues its preparations at full speed to make its F1 debut at the first round of the FIA 2010 F1 season at the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on 14 March.

Dr Colin Kolles, Team Principal comments, “The new team name signifies a new birth for our Formula One ambitions and highlights the incredible effort that is going on behind the scenes to ensure we make a successful debut in Bahrain on 14 March. While we are a new team in the paddock, we will be very proud to stand alongside such legendary names as Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Lotus, as we hope to build our own reputation in the coming years.”

The team presentation will be held in Murcia (Spain) on Thursday March 4, 2010

Established Teams Only

Felipe Massa keeps his Ferrari ahead of a following Williams during testing in Jerez last week. In a post on the official website, Ferrari have hit out at the FIA for allowing new teams onto the grid who might not make it. They specifically call out Campos for reorganising their whole management structure and US F1 who have “gone into hiding.”

Credit: Bridgestone Motorsport

23-Feb-10: Andy Soucek Joins Virgin Racing as Reserve

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 23rd February 2010.

Virgin Racing have confirmed that Andy Soucek will be joining them as reserve driver this year, as their previous announced driver Alvaro Parente had to step down due to sponsorship deals falling through. Formula 2 champion Soucek was rumoured to be joining Campos META but the Spaniard now picks up the test role at Virgin instead. He said he was excited and motivated and looking forward to learning.

Elsewhere, Ferrari have written a scathing piece on their official website, laying into the new teams this year. The article says: “Of the thirteen teams who signed up, or were induced to sign up, for this year’s Championship, to date only eleven of them have heeded the call, turning up on track, some later than others.” It goes on to add that some of those who have turned up have been very slow, whilst Campos has completely transformed it’s management structure, and US F1 have gone into hiding. The attack is on the FIA rather than the teams, but it’s a pretty harsh piece.

That’s all for now, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

19-Feb-10: Webber is Fastest on Jerez Day Three

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It is the 19th February 2010 and this is F1 Minute.

At last, some dry running in Jerez meant the teams got loads of laps in. Webber was fastest on the penultimate day at the circuit, with Alonso second and Button third. Hulkenberg was behind him, having completed 138 laps for Williams, the most of everyone. The least was 28 by Kobayashi for BMW Sauber, but that was because Kamui stopped out on track with a fuel problem after only a couple of hours. He returned to the track in the late afternoon.

Elsewhere, there are major changes at Campos Meta as shareholder Jose Ramon Carabante has taken full control of the team. Adrian Campos is out, and Colin Kolles has stepped in as Team Principal. Carabante said: “The whole rescue operation has been a race against time with the goal of always having the team run two competitive cars at the first Grand Prix.” That is still not guaranteed though.

That’s all for today, I’ll be back for a special testing roundup tomorrow.

27-Jan-10: Campos Meta Likely to Skip All Pre-Season Testing

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This is F1 Minute for the 27th January 2010.

We’ve heard from many teams who intend to miss the first test of the pre-season, but Campos Meta are taking it a step further, and will most likely skip all the testing. Their head of strategy Daniel Eisen has been talking to the AP, and said: “Bahrain is a test, it’s not a first race for us. The cars are very advanced, we have a driver under contract and our intention is to be in Bahrain for the first race.” He said they are still negotiating for funding but that everything is going according to plan. It also looks as though they won’t be announcing a second driver until much nearer the start of the season.

Meanwhile, Ferrari have become the next team prepared to stream their launch online. The 2010 car will be revealed in Maranello tomorrow and the event will be streamed at ferrari.com.

Finally, new driver Jose Maria Lopez said he was sure his chance of getting into F1 had passed, but says his goal is for US F1 to be the best of the new teams.

That’s all for now, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

31-Oct-09: Hamilton Secures Pole Position in Abu Dhabi

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 31st October 2009.

Lewis Hamilton took pole position in Abu Dhabi today, and it was not a surprise to anyone. The McLaren looked supreme all day, and he beat next place Vettel by over half a second. Teammate Kovalainen stopped out on track during qualifying with a gearbox problem, though, and although he finished the day 13th, he will take a five place grid drop for changing the gearbox, dropping him down to 18th.

Notably, both Renault and both Force India cars were out in Q1, along with Fisichella who qualified last. Raikkonen just missed out on the top ten and starts 11th.

Elsewhere, Campos META have confirmed that they’ve signed Bruno Senna to drive for them next year. The CEO of the team said: “We have followed him closely since his early days in minor series and testified how quickly he developed his speed and skills at GP2 to become one of the most promising up-and-coming drivers of his generation.”

That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.